


Coming Out

by charigreentea



Category: Infinity Train (Cartoon)
Genre: Bisexual Character, Coming Out, Fluff, Nonbinary Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:40:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,431
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27253567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charigreentea/pseuds/charigreentea
Summary: After Jesse finds Lake nowhere to be found, he goes to find them at their sacred place.
Relationships: Jesslake
Comments: 2
Kudos: 22





	Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [infinity pain groupchat](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=infinity+pain+groupchat).



As Jesse came out of his room and walked past Lake‘s room to meet his parents downstairs, he realized the door to his best friend‘s room was wide open. He took a quick peek inside, only to find it empty. Furrowing his eyebrows, he continued to make his way downstairs and found his parents sitting at the table in the kitchen. His mom was brewing tea, while his dad continued reading a book. Jesse looked around, hoping to find Lake sitting somewhere in the living room, but without luck. „Hey, have you seen Lake?“

He asked, walking up to Whittney who took him into a quick hug. When she released him, she hummed for a moment and took a cup out of the cupboard. „I think I saw her come downstairs about half an hour ago. I didn‘t see where she went though, why?“ Jesse‘s mom answered and started pouring the content of the can she was brewing tea in into her cup. Sighing, Jesse turned to his father, who set his book down to give his son his full attention. „She seemed a little.. confused? Came down with a certain strut. Did something happen?“

Jesse‘s heart sank a little. So none of his parents knew where Lake had went. Usually, if there was something troubling them, Lake would always turn to Jesse. They‘d tell him everything that was on their mind. Jesse thought for a moment, wondering where his best friend could be. Eventually, he had an idea on where they could be and got up to the front door, putting on his shoes and a jacket, since the days had started getting colder.

„I‘ll be checking at the lake, maybe she went there.“ Jesse‘s parents nodded, knowing they could trust their son and let him off. Jesse left the house, immediately burying his face into the collar of his jacket. It was October and only 5pm, but the sun was already setting. As he made his way to the place Lake and him had first arrived at when they got off the train, he tried remembering everything that happened that day. He remembered not seeing Lake much. They had come down for breakfast and lunch, only exchanging a few words after that before they had both went into their rooms. Jesse didn‘t realize how uncommunicative they had been. Lake seemed very shut off, which was unusual.

As Jesse turned the corner, he immediately saw his best friend sitting in front of the water. The sun was shining against their head, which meant their skin was probably comfortably warm. He sat down next to them, but Lake made no indication of moving or looking at him. Jesse looked at the water, just barely seeing their face staring at their reflection. It was silent. The only sounds came from the wind in the trees and a few birds. Usually, silence like this would be awkward, especially because it was obvious something was wrong, but between Lake and Jesse, no silence or moment could ever get awkward. Jesse looked up at the sky and smiled at the golden color the sky was painted in. The clouds were pink and the air was fresh. After enough silence and appreciating the nature, Jesse turned to look at his best friend and finally spoke.

„Hey, you okay?“

When Lake didn‘t answer, Jesse took the time to really look at them. They were sitting with their knees up and against their chest while their arms were hugging them. They looked.. small, unsure. They only wore a black sweater and even though Jesse knew Lake physically couldn‘t feel cold, he kept itching to give them his jacket. He couldn‘t read their expression, since half of their face was covered by their arms, but Jesse noticed that their eyebrows were furrowed and tense. He turned away again, looking ahead at the water.

„We haven‘t talked much today. It felt weird. Well, what I mean is, of course we don‘t have to talk all the time, you‘re entitled to your space, but we‘ve been basically inseperable for the past few months, so, not talking to you was weird.“

Again, Lake didn‘t react. Jesse felt weird, as if he was talking to no one. Eventually, after more moments of silence, he sighed and turned his body to his best friend. „Hey, whatever is going on, you can tell me. I want to help you.“ He waited for a moment, watching for a reaction, for any sign that they were listening. Just as he was about to give up, Lake lifted their head, but stayed looking at the lake in front of them.

„I was up all night. Doing tests, researching.. getting the same answers over and over.“

Jesse was fully alert again, listening carefully to what Lake was saying. „I‘ve been struggling with realizing some things for a while. I didn‘t know how to figure them out, so I took hundreds of tests.“ Eventually, Lake turned their head to look at Jesse. Jesse‘s looked at them, waiting patiently for more. He could tell talking was very hard for them at the moment.

„I‘ve always wondered why I felt so disconnected to Tulip. She was a great person! A great girl.. So.. why didn‘t I like being her?“

It was a question Lake wanted Jesse to answer, so Jesse did his best to guess the reason. „Because you didn‘t like being tied to a person? You.. wanted to have your own life?“ He answered, but every answer was just another question. Lake looked away again, letting the questions linger in the air for a little. „But as Tulip‘s reflection.. I had everything. I had a place in the world, as a person.“ They looked back to Jesse, deciding to stop speaking around the issue. 

„Sure, it sucks being tied to a person, but it wasn‘t exactly that. It was.. the identity. Tulip. A girl from Wisconsin.“ Jesse blinked, still not sure where this conversation was going and Lake could tell he felt lost. They sighed and leaned a little closer, making sure Jesse was listening carefully.

„But I‘m not a girl. In fact, I‘m not a boy either! I feel completely outside of this whole gender thing! I looked it up and apparently, I‘m not the only person that feels like this! There‘s a whole community! There‘s people that feel like both male and female, people that don‘t feel like any identity, and people that lean towards one, but still don‘t feel like a certain identity! And.. by researching and taking so many tests, I‘ve realized that I just feel like.. I‘m Lake. There’s a word for it, it‘s called Non-binary.“

While Lake explained everything and watched Jesse‘s reaction carefully, they saw him nod as they spoke, telling them that he was listening and understanding what they were saying. Lake felt.. very lucky, to have their best friend listen so carefully. „So.. I‘m Lake. I‘m Non-binary and I‘d really like it if you used they/them pronouns for me.“

When Jesse realized that this was the end of Lake‘s speech, everything suddenly made sense. Jesse smiled, let out a sigh and wrapped his arms around his best friend. To his suprise, Lake hugged back immediately, having missed their affection after only just one day. They needed this. After a moment of embracing, Jesse leaned back with his hands resting on his best friend‘s shoulders. „Thank you for telling me, Lake. As long as you‘re happy, I‘m happy.“

They smiled at each other, happy the wall between them was lifted, even if it just lasted for a day. Lake turned back to the water and rested their head against Jesse‘s shoulder as the last bit of the afternoon sun disappeared behind the forest. They stayed that way for a while, until Lake spoke again.

„I also figured out that I‘m bisexual.“

Jesse gasped, making Lake jump aswell as they turned to each other. „You are? That‘s so cool! Me too!“ Lake‘s eyes widened and they lightly shoved their best friend. „You are?! And you never told me?“ Jesse laughed and shrugged. „I didn‘t think it was necessary!“ „You could have saved me from so many tests and hours of questioning everything!“

They both laughed, arguing back and forth, but knowing it was full of fun and acceptance. Lake never once questioned if Jesse wouldn‘t accept them. He‘d always let them know he loved them, no matter what. And they knew in the Cosay‘s household, they were safe and loved and that was something they could have never imagined, but it was reality.

**Author's Note:**

> this is for the infinity pain gc i love you all so much!! /p <3


End file.
